Water Board Updates and State Infrastructure Projects

Western Municipal Water District Update

Two Western Water Board of Directors seats were on the ballot this month. Although the election has not yet been certified, it is clear that Director Laura Roughton, representing Division 4, which includes the Cities of Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, and Norco, and Director Fauzia Rizvi, representing Division 5, which includes Corona, Home Gardens, El Cerrito and a part of Temescal Canyon has been re-elected to four-year terms. Congratulations to both Directors, and thank you to the candidates who showed an interest in serving on Western Water’s board.

Western Water will elect officers at the first meeting in January. I have completed two consecutive terms as President, which is all that is permitted by Western’s regulations, so expect we will be electing a new President, Vice President, and Treasurer to serve for 2025. It has been an honor to help lead Western Water these past two years, and I am confident our new officers will serve Western and our constituents well.

State Water Infrastructure Updates

Governor Newsom has come out strongly in favor of both the Delta Conveyance Project and the Sites Reservoir Project.

The Delta Conveyance Project is a tunnel that would divert excess flow in the Sacramento River upstream of the delta and deliver it to the existing State Water project near the mouth of the delta. The existing pumping station works well from an engineering perspective but can significantly impact several species of fish, notably the federally protected Delta Smelt and salmon. There is also a real risk a major earthquake could cause the failure of levies throughout the delta, causing saltwater intrusion from San Francisco Bay and making the water at the current diversion point unusable for human use.

The Delta Conveyance Project would divert water from the Sacramento River upstream of the delta and deliver it to the California Aqueduct at the existing pumping station. The current problem is that operating the pumps can entrain fish into the pumps, so operations are disrupted when protected fish are present at the pumping station site. The project would allow water diversion upstream of critical areas for protected fish species while continuing sufficient flow for the fish population.  In addition, should there be a massive levee failure or sea level rise, the project would allow the diversion of water upstream from the saltwater intrusion area.

Had the Delta Conveyance project been in place, over 500,000 acre-feet of water that flowed to the ocean could have been captured and delivered to agricultural and urban users in the winters of 2021-22 and 2022-23 without adversely impacting fish populations.

The Delta Conveyance project is working its way through challenges to its environmental review process. It faces a major milestone later this year when the Metropolitan Water District makes a decision to continue design and licensing funding for the project.

The Sites Reservoir Project is a proposed off-stream reservoir that would be located north of Sacramento. Like the Delta Conveyance Project, it would divert excess runoff in wet years for use in dry years. The Sites Reservoir Project can store as much as 1.7 million acre-feet of water for use in dry years to benefit the environment, agriculture, and urban uses. This project has completed its environmental review process and has moved into the land and water rights acquisition phase.

Both projects offer much to California’s water security but must be operated correctly to avoid significant environmental impact. The projects are designed to protect the environment while capturing excess runoff water that otherwise would flow to the ocean. These safeguards will be created in the permitting process, and enforcement will be assured.

On the local and regional levels, we must continue developing stormwater capture and storage projects. Our region has done a good job in this area, but there is more that we can and should do to improve the reliability of our water supply system.

Stay tuned for developments on these and other important initiatives.